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| Ten Most Harmful Books of the 19th and 20th Centuries |
| 2005-06-08 |
| Damn, and I only have read "Mein Kampf"! What gaping holes in my culture! HUMAN EVENTS asked a panel of 15 conservative scholars and public policy leaders to help us compile a list of the Ten Most Harmful Books of the 19th and 20th Centuries. Each panelist nominated a number of titles and then voted on a ballot including all books nominated. A title received a score of 10 points for being listed No. 1 by one of our panelists, 9 points for being listed No. 2, etc. Appropriately, The Communist Manifesto, by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, earned the highest aggregate score and the No. 1 listing. Top ten at link. |
| Posted by:anonymous5089 |
| #26 Phil_B: Squeaking in under the deadline... I always thought BF Skinner was the sort of researcher who gave psychology a bad name? |
| Posted by: Phil Fraering 2005-06-08 23:29 |
| #25 I would say the August '79 Penthouse. Ever since I read those letters to the editor, I've felt unlucky and certainly inadequate. |
| Posted by: Frank G 2005-06-08 19:38 |
| #24 BH: I concur! My tongue used to go numb reading it to my kids over and over and over ... |
| Posted by: Xbalanke 2005-06-08 18:10 |
| #23 I detect an anti-science bias in the 'honorable mentions': Beyond Freedom and Dignity by B.F. Skinner (a minor masterpiece) Score: 18, Origin of the Species by Charles Darwin (arguably the most influential book ever written at least by a single author) Score: 17. I haven't read The Descent of Man, but will. You can find the full text here. |
| Posted by: phil_b 2005-06-08 17:33 |
| #22 Let's not forget that fiendish classic, Fox in Socks. That thing's just mean, man. |
| Posted by: BH 2005-06-08 15:21 |
| #21 If Phyllis Schlafly hates it I like it. Phyllis is a Jerk and cost the lives of lot and lots of agents in the early 80s. (A stupid scene she had with the US Amb in our embassy in Switzerland - a big mouth idiot) Phyllis had her stance on the ERA amendment because her insurance companies were cheating women in childbearing age. Phyllis should have disappeared from the US scene decades ago. After the debacle in Switzerland she should have been shot for being an Idiot. (I had that on the word of a relative who lost lots of agents and heard her rant that caused it.) As to Margaret Mead ... I spent a nice day with her once. A class act woman and scientist. Much more pleasing to be around than that harpy Phyllis. And no I am not open to discussing any of those twits who did the dissing. |
| Posted by: 3dc 2005-06-08 15:21 |
| #20 The Arabic translation of Mein Kampf continues to be a bestseller... |
| Posted by: Iblis 2005-06-08 14:37 |
| #19 How about Secret Protocols of the Elders of Zion? Led to a few fatalities here and there, no doubt. |
| Posted by: Snomotle Snomong7242 2005-06-08 13:12 |
| #18 COOOL |
| Posted by: anon1 2005-06-08 12:55 |
| #17 One of my grandsons is at college and he said one professor called Chomsky's books: "Mental masturbation". There's hope for Germany after all. |
| Posted by: True German Ally 2005-06-08 12:52 |
| #16 Your wife sounds fiesty! Good woman. What about Chomsky's political spewings? I think they've been pretty harmful to about 3 generations of college grads |
| Posted by: anon1 2005-06-08 12:49 |
| #15 put of course |
| Posted by: True German Ally 2005-06-08 12:16 |
| #14 Oh she was questioned by police whether this was "necessary". The guy poot a foot in the door. She told him to withdraw the foot. He didn't Whammmm! Of course she didn't try to get a UN resolution first. |
| Posted by: True German Ally 2005-06-08 12:16 |
| #13 LOL, TGA. ;-p Good thing you all don't live in Britain - she probably would have been sent to jail for hurting the poor intruder. :-( |
| Posted by: Barbara Skolaut 2005-06-08 11:59 |
| #12 Don't know, but there is a good deal of nonsense involved in any list. "Mein Kampf" which ranked second, seems to be an easy decision. Yet the book itself wasn't nearly as harmful as it is thought to be, since it was barely read. It's writer certainly was one of the most harmful people ever. If you want to compile a list of truly harmfil books, it should consist of books that were widely read and followed. The Protocols of the Elders of Zion would be such a book. It was meant to harm, was read by millions and had direct harmful consequences. It's still one of the most popular books in the Muslim world. The "Stürmer", while not being a book, was way more harmful than Mein Kampf. And then there is that big Atlas, my wife once used to hit a intruder over the head with: Now THIS book was truly harmful! |
| Posted by: True German Ally 2005-06-08 11:42 |
| #11 Which one Seafarious? The one 'as written' or the one they keep making up everytime the judges [left or right] want something their way? Newspeek, alive and well in the 21st Century. |
| Posted by: Jert Flinert7749 2005-06-08 11:34 |
| #10 A short radio report yesterday on the end of the filibuster on Janice Rogers Brown quoted a Senator (didn't catch which one, sorry) stating that she'd be basing her opinions on "Atlas Shrugged" and "The Road to Serfdom" rather than the Constitution. He said it like it was a bad thing... *Note: Of COURSE I expect federal judges to base their decisions on The United States Constitution. So no hate mail please. |
| Posted by: Seafarious 2005-06-08 11:14 |
| #9 Dragon - Kevin Drum attempted a liberal version of the list. He didn't include the Bible, but at least a dozen of his commenters insisted it belonged (along with a number of votes for the Scofield Reference Bible in particular). Hayek was on Drum's list. |
| Posted by: VAMark 2005-06-08 10:51 |
| #8 Dragon - Kevin Drum attempted a liberal version of the list. He didn't include the Bible, but at least a dozen of his commenters insisted it belonged (along with a number of votes for the Scofield Reference Bible in particular). Hayek was on Drum's list. |
| Posted by: VAMark 2005-06-08 10:51 |
| #7 Chiltons CamaroBirds for Dummys. followed by Shiek Jimmuah's Islam for Dhimmis |
| Posted by: Half 2005-06-08 10:34 |
| #6 dragon fly, odd you mention Bloom, who is a Nietzchean (though by no means an orthodox one) when Nietzsche is high on the list. I also doubt that Strauss would have been down on Darwin, et al. The conservatives surveyed here are obviously not Strauss or Bloom type conservatives. Or Hayek for that matter. |
| Posted by: liberalhawk 2005-06-08 10:03 |
| #5 Stalin got honorable mention? Damn, what's a mass murderer gotta do to get his propers? |
| Posted by: BH 2005-06-08 09:20 |
| #4 Perhaps I should have phrased that the Koran has been the most harmful book to the 21st century |
| Posted by: JerseyMike 2005-06-08 08:26 |
| #3 Its obvious to me that the most harmful book of the 21st century so far has been the Koran. Inciting mental deficients and sociopaths to murder and mayhem, while firmly entrenching its adherents in the 7th century. Way to go Allah, that's why your book will always be nothing more than asswipe to me. |
| Posted by: JerseyMike 2005-06-08 08:23 |
| #2 I wonder what the list would like if Liberals were to compile a list. Let me start: 1. The Bible 2. The Constitution 3. All of The Great Books (tip of the hat to St. John's College!) 4. Allan Bloom: The Closing of the American Mind 5. Leo Strauss 6. Leo Strauss 7. Leo Strauss 8. Leo Strauss 9. Thomas Sowell 10. Friedrich August von Hayek |
| Posted by: Dragon Fly 2005-06-08 08:22 |
| #1 Books don't kill people. People kill people. |
| Posted by: gromgoru 2005-06-08 08:14 |